372 



Garden and Forest. 



[Septemker 26, 1S88. 



Notes. 



Apples are now Ix'ing shipped from California to Aus- 

 tralia. 



The Japanese Stuartia, which is just now attracting atten- 

 tion in England, was exhibited in this city by IVIr. Samuel B. 

 Parsons as long ago as 1877. It was introduced into this 

 country some time before l>y IVIr. Thomas Hogg, to whom we 

 are indebted for so many Japanese plants. 



At the great exhibition of the Peninsula Horticultural 

 Society at Wilmington, several fruit-growers made most 

 attractive displays oi: the fruits of the entire season, the earlier 

 ones being preserved by cold storage. Of Peaches, for ex- 

 ample, the whole list was represented, from Amsden's June 

 down to the very latest. The specimens were large and finely 

 colored. 



iVIr. Thomas H. Douglas, Head Forester of the California 

 State Forestry Commission, writes that Catalapa speciosa is 

 very promising as a timber tree in San Diego County. The 

 trees do well on sandy hills without irrigation, outgrowing 

 even the Eucalyptus on such soil. Cafalpa bigtionioides is 

 distinctly inferior wherever compared with C. speciosa in 

 Southern California. 



AI)out two thousand acres of land are now devoted to 

 Strawberry culture in the neighborhood of Centralia, Illinois, 

 and from this point as many as 190 car-loads, or 2,097,600 

 quarts of lierries have been shipped in a season of twenty 

 days. The largest Strawberry field contains thirty acres, but 

 the smaller ones pay better in proportion, and nearly every 

 back yard in Centralia brings in pocket money. 



IVIr. Wm. Goldring, our London correspondent, has lately 

 been commissioned by the Gaikwar of Baroda, one of the 

 native princes of India, to design and carry out some im- 

 portant landscape works, consisting of gardens and pleas- 

 ure grounds around his palaces and some public parks and 

 gardens in other parts of his dominions. Mr. Goldring will 

 spend the winter months for the next three years in India, and, 

 in the course of his studies, will visit many of the notable gar- 

 dens of that county. Descriptions of these gardens, together 

 with notes on Indian horticulture and forestry, will be pre- 

 pared by Mr. Goldring from time to time for Garden and 



FORE.ST. 



There now seems to be little question that an efficacious 

 remedy for the Black Rot of Grapes has been found in certain 

 preparations of copper sulphate. The experiments carried 

 on inider the direction of Professor F. Lamson Scribner, for 

 the Department of Agriculture, have been characterized by 

 great care and thoroughness, and if the results hoped for are 

 realized, they will prove of incalculable value to all Grape- 

 growers where the Black Rot and Mildew have been destruc- 

 tive. If this treatment will enable us to grow the varieties of 

 Mtis vinifci-a, which has been impossible heretofore on 

 account of these diseases, Professor Scribner's work will have 

 a still greater practical importance. 



Two years ago Mr. Carman, of the Ru?-a/ New Yorker, suc- 

 ceeded in fertilizing the pistils of the Raspl>erry with pollen 

 from the Blackberry, and planted the seeds which resulted 

 from this union. Of the eighteen hybrids secured, three have 

 fruited this year. One of them is a vigorous plant with large 

 leaves, nearly thornless canes, and, to all appearance, a Rasp- 

 berry with yellow fruit of medium size and of the quality of 

 the Caroline. The second bears a red berry resembling the 

 Hansel! in size, color and quality. The third plant resembles 

 a Blackberry, with flowers like those of a Raspberry, and 

 bearing jet black berries with a Raspberry flavor. All the 

 plants bear some imperfect berries, and, judging from their 

 behavior this year, do not promise to be of much economi- 

 cal value. 



The meeting of the Brooklyn Park Commissioners last 

 week was invested with a peculiar interest from the fact that 

 the advisability of engaging Messrs. Olmsted & Vaux as 

 Landscape Architects Advisory came up for discussion. A 

 letter from these gentlemen was read stating the conditions 

 under which they are prepared to give their services to the 

 Board in that capacity. It was urged by those who favored 

 the measure that inasmuch as Messrs. Olmsted & Vaux were 

 the original designers of Prospect Park, it was fitting that 

 when $200,000 are to be expended for its permanent improve- 

 ment, these artists should be consulted as to the develop- 

 ment of the plan. Dr. Storrs expressed the views of the 

 Commissioners who appreciate the value of special training 



when he said that they clearly needed the counsel and advice 

 of men who have given their lives to the study of this kind of 

 work. The matter was laid over until a future meeting, 

 when a definite form of contract will be presented for accept- 

 ance. Some difference of opinion was manifested, and the 

 final decision of the Board will be awaited with interest. 



The current number of the Art Review contains an article 

 by Mr. George Forbes, called "The Picturesque Adiron- 

 dacks," which is well adapted to convince readers who have 

 never visited this region of its great value to the people as a 

 sanitarium in the widest sense of the word — as a place of re- 

 cuperation and refreshment for body, mind and soul. As 

 his title indicates, Mr. Forbes's aim is to disclose the beauty 

 of the Adirondack country rather than its economic value. It 

 is not his purpose, he explains, to inquire into the matter of 

 its "prodigious importance as the ultimate source and reser- 

 voir of the water-supply of the State, and mto the corollary 

 question of its Forestry-laws." Yet he cannot refrain from 

 asking whether, even if " its festhetic charms " were alone in 

 question, they do not " demand a legislative enactment that 

 shall make the entire section a State Park, as free to the peo- 

 ple of this and other States as are the Niagara Falls Reserva- 

 tion and the Yellowstone National Park ? " 



The Weekly Press- (Philadelphia) has been collecting through 

 its correspondents some interesting data as to big trees in 

 various parts of the country, and measurements of remark- 

 able trees in fourteen states are published in the number for 

 August 22d. Among these are a Live Oak in Marion County, 

 Florida, with a trunk circumference of thirty-one feet, and a 

 spread of branches of nearly 139 feet; a Sugar Maple in Brad- 

 ford County, Pennsylvania, with a girth of sixteen feet, and 

 branches spreading eighty-three feet; an Elm in Shinriston, 

 West Virginia, with a girth of twenty-seven feet three inches, 

 a spread of branches of 123 feet, and a total height of 1 10 feet; 

 a Chestnut in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with a circum- 

 ference of twenty-five feet three inches, and branches spread- 

 ing eighty-eight feet ; a sycamore in Wabash County, Illinois, 

 with a girth of twenty-eight feet, and a Sassafras at Johnsville, 

 Pennsylvania, with a circumference of thirteen feet six inches 

 three feet from the ground, a spread of branches of thirty- 

 five feet, and a total height of forty-six feet. 



At the Sixtieth Annual Exhibition of the Massachusetts 

 Horficultural Society last week the display of out-door Howers 

 was not so large as usual, owing to the protracted rains, but 

 the quality of those shown was of the best, and the arrange- 

 ment of the cut flowers and green-house plants was better 

 than usual. Fruits were exhibited in great profusion, 

 although Apples and Pears were not so abundant as in former 

 years. They were exceptionally free, however, from fungus 

 and bliglit. Vegetables were shown in great abundance and 

 variety and not a single poor specimen was seen, and the 

 fifty dishes of perfect Tomatoes placed together presented a 

 mass of color unequaled in the hall. Among" the ornamental 

 plants, the collection of Orchids and green-house plants con- 

 tributed by Messrs. Pitcher and Manda, of Short Hills, was 

 noteworthy. A magnificent specimen Latania Borbonica from 

 Mrs. Francis B. Playes was conspicuous in the upper hall. 

 Mr. L. W. Goodell made an attractive exhibit of Nymphseas 

 and other water plants, and a fine specimen of Nepenthes with 

 twenty pitchers was sent l)y George McWilliam, gardener to 

 Mrs. J. Lasell. A great group of green-house plants from Mr. 

 Nathaniel T. Kidder contained the six specimens for 

 which the prize was given to his gardener, William J. 

 Martin. Thomas Clark, gardener to Mr. Brooks, showed, 

 among other fine plants, a Cibotiiim prineeps which took the 

 first prize for a Tree Fern, and A. J. Wheeler, gardener to Mr. 

 J. H. White, contributed an admirable collection, including 

 an Acalypha of remarkable color. A collection of native 

 flowers from Mrs. P. D. Richards was one of the most inter- 

 esting features of the display, and Mr. James F. C. Hyde sent 

 thirty-eight varieties of cultivated native Asters, two of them 

 cross-bred seedlings, and a large and finely colored Gejiiiana 

 Andrewsii, which he had cultivated. An instructive collec- 

 tion of plants, ornamental and useful, came from the Har- 

 vard Botanical Gardens, including specimens of the Olive, Log- 

 wood, Coftee, Pepper, Papyrus, Cinnamon, Mahogany and 

 many more. The value of this collection was greatly in- 

 creased by the complete and accurate labeling of the plants. 

 Among cut flowers, the new Rose, Madame Watteville, was 

 shown by Norton Brothers, some of the best new Cannas 

 and tuberous-rooted Begonias by Edwin Fewkes&Son, and 

 well-grown Dahlias by Edwin Sheppard, John Parker and 

 George S. Tuttle. 



